Learn How To Write a Persuasive Essay

Do you often find yourself stranded in the middle of your english essay? If yes, it is probably because you did not take your time to evaluate the strength of your points. To avoid such occurrences, it is crucial to understand the type of essay you are writing. There are numerous ways of writing these pieces depending on the genre. There are argumentative, compare and contrast, descriptive, definition essays and so forth. Some techniques apply to all the essays while others are specific to the type. Let us shift our focus to the persuasive essay writing.

What is a persuasive essay?

As the name suggests, a persuasive essay aims at persuading. To persuade means to convince an audience to lean towards a certain point of view. This essay uses research and evidence to prove why the reader should believe in your point of view. Therefore, one requires to possess a thorough understanding of the topic in discussion. Not only should one know the side they are supporting but the contrasting one too. This way, one can argue why they are taking a certain position as opposed to the other that is present. The following steps can help the writer come up with a compelling persuasive essay.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Step By Step Guide

Step 1: Prepare to write your persuasive essay

Like in any other piece of writing, prior planning is crucial in the quality of your persuasive essay. Here, there are various points you need to consider before you embark on the actual writing. They include;

Choosing the right topic

One thing about persuasive essay topics is that there must exist some level of contradiction. This means that there is more than one way of looking at the topic of discussion. A topic like “we need lungs to breath” does not make a good persuasive essay. On the contrary, consider “social media has resulted in more evil than good.” This topic creates an avenue to either support or differ with the statement. If you are not assigned a specific topic, choose one that you are interested in. one can easily write a thrilling essay if they focus on ideas that touch them.

Choose the side to take

Since the topic is controversial, you must decide on which side to base your points. From there, you now require to sway the audience towards your side. You can use facts, statistics, and research to back up your opinion. Using the topic we had earlier identified, you can support or refute that social media has resulted in more evil than good. If you lean towards the good, convince the reader to join your point of view. However, ensure you also mention the evil that has arisen but still identifying that it does not outdo the good.

Conduct thorough research and organize your evidence

Do not use vague or mere words to make your arguments. Consider the most credible sources from which you can draw reliable facts. If need be, highlight numbers, quotes or definitions from reliable authors. Evaluating which side the audience might sway towards helps you determine how strong to make your points.

Step 2: Write an outline and draft of your essay

Your persuasive essay needs an introduction, body, and conclusion. The importance of the outline is to help you organize the body of your essay. You can use a three-body paragraph with the first two Paragraphs containing your arguments. The third paragraph will contain the counterargument to your essay. In your draft, ensure you have a captivating introduction with a proper thesis statement. If you are writing a five-paragraph essay, your second and third paragraphs must contain evidence to support your topic. The fourth paragraph will have a counterargument with some refuting evidence.

Step 3: Start to write your persuasive essay fast

Since you have the ideas and evidence to support them, it is time to piece together the information. Like any other essay, make an attention-grabbing introduction. Use quotes, figures, anecdotes, joke or any other applicable tactic. Do not assume that your audience understands everything about your topic. Therefore, a piece of background information will help in introducing your topic better. Your introduction should also contain a thesis statement that highlights the topic, your opinion, and evidence. It should be brief but capture what your essay entails. Have a smooth transition from your introduction to the first paragraph of your essay’s body. You can use terminologies such as, to begin with, or firstly, among others. Write each point in a separate paragraph to avoid mixing up ideas.

Persuasive Essay Conclusion -

In a persuasive essay, your conclusion should not introduce any new ideas. You should uniquely sum up your arguments. In this paragraph, you hammer the last nail. Therefore, if your supporting arguments are strong enough, you should have no trouble with the conclusion. You will have succeeded in convincing the reader beyond any reasonable doubt to follow your opinion.

Crucial techniques in persuasive essay writing

By adopting some of the following methodologies, you can come up with convincing arguments. Remember the importance of a persuasive essay is compel the reader to believe an idea.

Repetition

Once you have identified the points you want to drive home, repeat them in the essay. However, play with words to avoid boring the reader.

Storytelling

What a better way to make an idea understood than to use a relevant story? The story should be brief so that it does not beat the essay’s logic. Human beings have a way of relating issues to stories. Your introduction can use this technique to catch the audience’s attention.

Ethos, pathos, and logos

These elements of Aristotle are applicable in various essay types. By ethos, your arguments are based on authoritative resources. Pathos plays with the audience’s morals, values and beliefs. Logos entails applying logic to convince the reader to follow your point of view.

Like in any other piece of academic writing, proofread your essay and make the required amends you may require the help of a friend, family member or professional to edit your work. Your persuasive essay should not only be convincing but also flow logically.

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How to construct a persuasive argument for an essay

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